Lead Poisoning in Kane County: FREE ‘Healthy Homes’ App Can Save Your Life

kanecountyconnects / October 26, 2017 / Comments Off / Business, Communities, Consumers, Government, Health, Homeowners, Kane County Health Department, Public Safety

Editor’s Note: This is the third story in a series on National Lead Safety Awareness Week. Since lead poisoning is completely preventable, the Kane County Healthy Places Coalition is urging residents to recognize all sources of lead and take action to remove lead safely when repairing or renovating their homes.

If your home was built before 1978, there’s a good chance the paint on the inside and outside contains lead.

In fact, 49 percent of the housing in Kane County was built before 1978, making it likely that you and your family could be in danger of lead poisoning. What can you do about it?

Fortunately, as with most things these days, there’s an app for that.

The FREE app, Healthy Homes Basics, from the Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes offers practical how-to guidance on how to have a safe and healthy home, right at your fingertips!

The app includes:

Practical guidance on how to have a safe and healthy home.
Information categorized by home hazards and health impacts.
Quizzes that test users’ knowledge.
Capability to share information through social media platforms.
Connections to more information/resources.

The Kane County Healthy Places Coalition partners collaborate all year, but especially in October 2017, to highlight lead poisoning risks and prevention.

“Since lead poisoning is entirely preventable, we want to make parents and other residents aware that lead — from many sources — continues to poison young children pregnant women and other adults in Kane County,” the coalition’s website says.

Data from the Illinois Department of Health show that about half of the lead-poisoned children in our region are harmed by pre-1978 paint in their homes, while others are harmed by lead in painted toys, toy jewelry, candy, or poorly glazed pottery, or through a foreign exposure.

SOURCE: Kane County Healthy Places Coalition